I'm Still Here!

Hello everyone! I am so-o-o-o-o sorry for not being able to update this past two Thurday. I've been experiencing technical difficulties with my computer so that's why I couldn't post these past two weeks. The computer has been fixed for the most part, but we're still having some problems with it, so I might not be able to post every Thursday like I had been doing until we fix the problems (which hopefully can be fixed soon). So I figured today instead of giving an article that I normally write each week, I'll keep it short and just give you updates:

• The Easter production I wrote, "The King on a Cross" is coming along greatly! We have all the actors we need, almost all the props and even a make-up person. The production is going to take place at our church, Leptondale Bible Church on March 29th, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. and on March 30th, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. If you'd like to come to either help out with behind the scenes stuff (we could still use that) or would just like to come and see the production but would like some need-to-know information, please send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.
• Since the computer was malfuncted, I couldn't work on my latest stop-motion series, "Planet of the Dinosaurs" for a while. Well, now that the computer is mostly working (but it still has a few "issues") I am continuing my work on the series! I am at the moment working on the fifth episode: "The Life of a Tyrant Lizard King". This episode is about 37% finished, while the series as a whole is about 29% finished. The series will hopefully be finished in May. In the meantime, enjoy a stop-motion short I made. Just before my computer started having issues, I was able to complete a stop-motion short: this one is a rematch to an episode of my earlier series called, "Animal Face-Off". Please enjoy:

 

That is about all the time I have for today! I will attempt to update this blog as often as I can (even though it will be a little difficult since my computer has "issues). Hopefully soon I'll be able to update every week like I used to. See you soon and thanks for being so patient!

The Living Dinosaurs? pt. 1

Well hello everyone! I’m glad you came to read today’s article. So let’s get started with – as usual - updates!

First, as usual, updates are first. “The King on a Cross” play that I wrote is coming along exceedingly great. As you might recall, the play itself is going to be held twice this month – one time on the 29^th and the other on the 30^th. Exact times are still to be determined. However, we could still use “behind-the-scenes” people, so if you are interested in helping out, please email me at animaladventures@aol.com. We’d be glad to have you!

If you read last week’s article, you will recall that I was really close to finished the fourth episode of my stop-motion series called “Planet of the Dinosaurs,” called “Asian Marvels”. Well, as of this past weekend, I started on the fifth episode of the series called “The Life of a Tyrant Lizard King.” This pushes the series to about 33% finished. I expect to finish taking pictures for the fifth and sixth episodes of the series by the end of March and (Lord willing), the series will be ready for viewing sometime in April. I can’t wait! I am still working on another clip from the series to show you. I should have one to show you next week (sorry for the delay!)

Now, I normally don't write movie reviews because I don't go to the movie theater much and by the time they come out on DVD everybody already knows about them. But, there was one movie that hardly had any information on it (even the information they had on Wikipedia was rather skimpy!). So today's article is part of a two part topic. So here it goes, my first movie review:

A theatrical poster for The Dinosaur Project (PHOTO CREDITS)

The Dinosaur Project theatrical poster (PHOTO CREDITS)

On the 1^st of this month, my latest Netflix movie came in the mail. It was entitled The Dinosaur Project. (I would have brought this up earlier, but I was requested to write on another topic as Easter approached) Now I heard about this movie in late 2012, so naturally I was pretty excited to get it. This film is about an expedition made by about eight people who take a journey to the heart of Africa’s jungles to prove the existence of a large beast that might live there – Mokele-mbembe, “. . . Africa’s Loch Ness Monster, but much more plausible,” as one of the film’s characters puts it, which might be a living dinosaur or dinosaur-like animal. The explorers going on this journey are: the leader, Jonathan Marchant, the medic, Liz Draper, their sponsor organizer, Charlie Rutherford, their local guide, Amara, who is skeptical on the existence of dinosaurs in the Congo. These explorers are accompanied by a two person camera crew, Jonathan’s son, 15-year old Luke, who had stowed away to be on the expedition, and the helicopter pilot. Once they arrive in Africa and start flying over the jungles, everything goes on without a hitch . . . until they run into a huge flock of what they call “birds” (but they aren’t birds, instead they are flying reptiles called pterosaurs). These “birds” swarm the chopper and cause it to tumble down into the jungle below. Now the group is trapped in the jungle. As the group struggles to survive, it turns out that the dinosaurs living in these jungles are weirder than ever, certain people in the group aren’t what they seem, and there’s more than dinosaurs to worry about out there! The interesting thing about this movie was that it was filmed from the perspective of “lost and found” footage of an ill-fated expedition. So many of the shots in the movie are shot from small cameras that are stuck on shirts or backpacks and others are from the camera that the camera crew has. Now here’s my take on this movie: I found the film to adventurous and thrilling. But if you decide to watch it, please note that despite the picture on many of the film’s theatrical posters, there is no T. rex in it. In fact, there aren’t very many of the dinosaurs the general public is familiar with. I have a list of the creatures in the film (in order of appearance):

• Giant “Birds”: (actually a pterosaur called Pteranodon)

Pteranodon

• Unidentified Bat-Like Reptiles: these strange reptiles also go unidentified. Their bodies and wings resemble that of a bat or pterosaur, but their heads look more like a giant weasel. In the film, these creatures hunt in packs and despite being able to fly, they prefer running and don’t hunt over water...
• Unidentified Dinosaurs (“Cryptosaurus”): while these animals are carnivorous, the babies are rather docile, even friendly, toward humans. The younger ones love to play in the water. The neck frill is used to scare away potential predators and if the babies like you, they might “spit” a special liquid on you so their parents won’t see you as food. At first I thought they were ornithopods, but ornithopods probably weren’t as home in the water as much as the dinosaurs in the film and they didn’t have neck frills. The ornithopods I had in mind (such as Leaellynasaurua and Hypsilophodon) weren’t as large as the adults in the movie. This species was probably made up by the movie-makers and so for the sake of names, I have dubbed it “Cryptosaurus”, meaning “Secretive Lizard”.

A few of the film's characters trying to attach a camera to "Crypto"  (PHOTO CREDITS)

• “Mokele-Mbembe”: this large reptile is one of the few animals that actually gets identified in the movie. It has a long neck and is a plesiosaur, probably of the genus “Elasmosaurus”. While the one spotted in the movie can stick its neck high out of the water, real plesiosaurs couldn’t do this. Also, in reality, some scientists actually think that mokele-mbembe, if it exists, is a sauropod or long-necked dinosaur.

A pair of Elasmosaurus

• Unidentified Water Reptile: while on a river, the group is attacked by an unidentified water reptile. The creature isn’t seen from a very good angle, so I can’t really say what it is. All I know is that it has a mouth full of teeth and a bad attitude! During the beginning of the film, it is said that plesiosaurs like mokele-mbembe were often found near pliosaurs, large plesiosaurs with short necks. So maybe this Unidentified Water Reptile is a giant pliosaur such as Liopleurodon.

Liopleurodon

As for the movie itself, there are great actors and the creatures are very realistic. I enjoyed the movie, but I only wish that it were a bit longer (it’s roughly 1 ½ hours long), had more dinosaur scenes with more identifiable dinosaur species and a more conclusive ending. Yes, the ending was a little abrupt. It is also unclear at times if some characters have died or simply disappeared and might still be alive. I found out after I got the movie that it was rated PG-13, but considering the rating, it was very mild for a PG-13 movie. As far as I could tell, there was no “sexual references”, only a few “choisy” words (the only ones I remember are maybe two or three barely audible, "Oh my G*d!" and maybe two da*ns) and not at all gory. Also, a BIG surprise for a dinosaur movie, there weren't many mentions of evolution and millions of years (maybe only a few times). The only blood I saw was just the scares that the characters had, and while they looked realistic, they weren’t gory either. If you consider watching this movie, I’d recommend parents should watch it first before letting their young ones watch it because some of the creatures might scare some kids. Overall though, while this is no “Jurassic Park” substitute, it was still a great enjoyable movie, and I’d recommend it to all dino-lovers!

Thank you for reading this article today. Be sure to stop by next Thursday for more facts about some of the amazing stuff that our world is packed with! Till next week, chow!

PS: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Welcome back everyone! I know I say this a lot, but it’s really true: a lot of stuff has happened this week! So let’s start off with updates.

Play rehearsal for the Easter production “The King on a Cross” is really coming along! We have pretty much all the actors we need. All we really need are people to do props and any extras would be great as well. Otherwise, the actors (including me) are practicing our lines so we can get them just right!

If you read one of my articles, you will recall that the movie Jurassic Park fans have been waiting for, Jurassic Park IV is supposed to be coming out next year. While they aren't revealing much about plots, actors or the dinosaurs that are planned to be in the movie, we might have a possible character. Laura Dern, the actress who portrayed the paleobotanist (extinct plant scientist) Dr. Ellie Sattler/Degler (her last name was changed after she got married), has been asked about Jurassic Park IV! In a recent interview with IFC on the 24th of last month, Laura said, "I know a little and it's been ever-changing. It's [Jurassic Park IV] been evolving for many years as Steven [Spielberg] has been considering it so that's all I can say right now." When the IFC asked specifically about whether she'd be in Jurassic Park IV, her response was, "Oh, I don't know. We'll see what they do. Right now we're just focused on our party of this summer." So while we don't know for sure if she'll be returning in the fourth Jurassic Park film, it would be nice to see her facing-off with dinosaurs again! I'll keep you posted on what happens! (Click here for the Laura Dern interview article)

Laura Dern as Dr. Ellie Sattler in the first Jurassic Park film. Will she return for JPIV . . .? (Photo Credit)

A lot of you might be delighted to know that I have successfully taken all of the pictures for the fourth episode (“Asian Marvels”) of my latest stop-motion movie series, Planet of the Dinosaurs! As of Tuesday, I started taking pictures for the next episode: “The Life of a Tyrant Lizard King”, and I think you might be able to guess which dinosaur this episode is featured upon! There is no clip this week, but I’ll be sure to put one on this website as soon as it’s finished.

A screenshot from Planet of the Dinosaurs: Asian Marvels, in which a Guanlong kills an ornithopod and another theropod

Since I am creating a stop-motion movie special on dinosaurs, I thought it would be appropriate to do an article focused on these magnificent animals. Now, you might already know that the area of science devoted to the study of ancient animals and plants such as dinosaurs is called paleontology. Scientists who study them are called paleontologists. Since as far as we know, no living dinosaurs are around today, we get most of our information on these from their fossils – stone copies of long dead bones. For a long time, secular scientists (the ones that believe the earth is millions of years old) have struggled with many questions they had concerning dinosaurs. Today, many people are struggling with the question as to what caused the dinosaurs to become extinct, but one question is commonly overlooked by the general public – where’d they come from in the first place! This is what we are going to look at today.

A pair of Dilophosaurus (Photo Credit)

So what do secular scientists, or evolutionists, say about the dinosaurs beginning? Well, they say that about 230 million years ago, during the Triassic period, lizard-like reptiles such as Euparkeria evolved the ability to run upright. Then as the Triassic period progressed, these reptiles turned into the first dinosaurs. In the evolutionists’ world view, the Triassic period ended around 201.3 million years ago with the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event that wiped out many of the dinosaurs’ evolutionary rivals and as the Jurassic period came, dinosaurs evolved into gigantic proportions such as the long-necked sauropods.

Supposedly, dinosaurs like these Eoraptors are some of the first dinosaurs ever to evolve (Photo Credit)

Now, Creationists (scientists who believe God’s Word, the Bible) on the other hand, instead of using manmade ideas about the history of the earth to determine the evidence we find, they use the Bible to help them unlock the past. According the first book of the Bible, God created everything in a mere six, literal, 24-hour days, contrary to what some Christians will have you believe (see THIS ARTICLE).

1^st Day: Space (I’m not referring to stars and galaxies), Earth, Light & Time

2^nd Day: Atmosphere

3^rd Day: Dry Land & Plants

4^th Day: Sun, Moons, Stars, Planets & Galaxies

5^th Day: Swimming & Flying Creatures

6^th Day: Land Animals & Man

The Bible records these days of Creation in the very first book – Genesis, Genesis 1:1-28 to be precise. So, if you were to ask where dinosaurs came from, the answer is obvious. What day were land animals created on? The answer is: Day 6. Genesis 1:24-25 says, “And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

The word “dinosaur”, which was invented by a creationist named Sir Richard Owen in 1841, means “terrible lizard” and is used to refer to large land dwelling reptiles that are now extinct. Since dinosaurs are land animals, this means that dinosaurs were created on Day 6 only about 6,000 years ago! And do you know what was also created on this day? Check out Genesis 1:26-27, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”

Do you realize what this means? Dinosaurs coexisted with people at the exact same time! They were not separated from man by 65 million years, but instead, they lived together. After mentioning this, some people will mention how this would have been bad . . . for the people anyway, because dinosaurs would eat them! But how do they know what dinosaurs ate? A common response would be something like, “Because they had really sharp teeth.” Well, let’s see what the Bible has to say about the original diets of all animals and people back then: “Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” Genesis 1:29.

So are dinosaurs living with people when first created really an issue? Not really because after all, most of the dinosaurs that have been discovered ate mostly or only plants, even after the Fall (we know this because their teeth are simply not designed for cutting through flesh). Only one group of dinosaurs – the theropods – has sharp teeth (and not even all theropods had sharp teeth, some like the therizinosaurs had dull teeth for eating plants). The real question to consider is: Do an animal’s sharp teeth really tell about its behavior? Take a look at the skull below:

Those are some very sharp teeth so it must be a carnivore! Right? Well, actual this is the skull of a giant panda, and it feeds mainly on bamboo. Take a look at the next picture:

(Photo Credits)

This skull has a huge maw with foot-long canines! So it has to be a meat-eater . . . or not! This is the skull of a hippo. Despite living in the water, hippos don’t like eating water plants. Instead, they crawl up out of the water at night to feed on grass. The teeth are used mainly for display and fighting. Here is another animals with sharp teeth that doesn't eat meat:

Fruit Bat Skull

So as you can see, an animal’s sharp teeth don’t tell you how it behaved, or what food it ate, it only tells you the obvious – it had sharp teeth! Did you know that sharp teeth have an herbivorous purpose too? When you cut potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli, lettuce or other fruits and vegetables, you have to use a sharp knife to cut it, don’t you? So those sharp teeth and claws on T. rex, Velociraptor, Allosaurus and etc. would have been perfectly designed for cutting through plants. When God designed these creatures, He was probably preparing them for life later, when something happened to change this Eden.

As we all know, this newly formed world God created 6,000 years ago didn’t last very long. Because soon after God created everything, the first humans, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and they had to pay the price. The point when humans sinned is a time called “the Fall of Man” (or simply “the Fall” for short). Everything was changed after the Fall. Animals, including many dinosaurs, turned carnivorous. We can plainly see this in the fossil record which was formed after the Fall – countless fossils of dinosaurs and other animals have bite marks, wounds from fights, broken bones, and severed necks. Some dinosaurs have even been found with their last meal still inside their stomachs! One example of this is a small dinosaur called Compsognathus; it was discovered with the fossils of a lizard in the abdominal region.

We have evidence that T. rex (left) hunted live Triceratops (right), definitely after the Fall!

The Fall changed just about everything that mankind once knew. Animals and people were going to be different. Perhaps one of the most obvious changes was that death, sickness and pain would be in the world now. Our world has been cursed. However, despite all that bad stuff, there is still beauty and new life and love. This is because even with all the changes that took place at the Fall, we are still living in God’s created, beautiful and amazing world of wonders!

After all that new information, I’m sure some of you might have trouble remembering all this. So here is a recap of what we’ve learned about dinosaurs: dinosaurs were originally created with mankind and the other animals on Day 6 of the Creation week about 6,000 years ago. All animals and people were herbivores and lived in perfect harmony. Once mankind sinned however and some dinosaurs and other animals began eating meat. This is the true “Dawn of the Dinosaurs”! I hope you enjoyed reading this enlightening article as much as I did writing. So until we meet again next week, goodbye for now!

PS: Did you know that God has a plan to completely restore the world one day? Read how you can get into this new world by going to this article and this article.

PS 2: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 3: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 4: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 5: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

PS 6: Do you want to see Laura Dern in the next Jurassic Park movie? Please voice your opinion in the poll I have provided on the right side of the screen.

Do You Really Know Jesus?

Welcome back everybody! A lot of stuff has happened this past week! First of all, as usual, it’s time for updates!

“The King on a Cross” Easter production is coming along greatly! We have the many of the previous missing parts filled: Simon Peter, Mary Magdalene, a total of four Roman soldiers, a total of two angels and a nicely sized crowd. Praise the Lord we got all those parts filled! If we didn’t, well, we are sort of only six weeks from showtime! The play is scheduled for March 29^th and 30^th. The exact time is to be determined. Please come to Leptondale Bible Church to see our re-enactment of one of the most compelling moments in history – when Jesus, who became man, died for our sins on a cross of Calvary so that we may have eternal life through Him and Him alone!

I am still working hard to finish my latest stop-motion movie project: “Planet of the Dinosaurs”. As you might recall, the photos for the first three episodes (“Out of Africa”, “The Tropical Poles” and “Back to the Jurassic”) are all taken. So that makes these episodes about 50% finished. Currently I am working on the fourth of the sixth episodes of the series: “Asian Marvels”. I expect to have it all finished by the 28^th if not sooner. The series as a whole is roughly 26% finished and Lord willing, it should be completed during the month of April. I hope so! I am so excited! Here’s another piece of information you might like to know: each episode is hopefully going to stretch about thirty to forty-five minutes each. Here is my latest clip for you to enjoy, it will take you back in time to prehistoric Mongolia, 4,900 years ago:

If you were to go out and ask people you run into on the street what Jesus Christ looks like, they would probably describe Him to look something like this:

Or this:

Or maybe this:

But the real question is: do we really know what He looked like? We have to remember that even though these paintings of “Jesus” are wonderful in terms of quality, they were painted by people who lived a long time after Jesus was on earth and therefore didn’t really see Him. In most pictures of Jesus, we see Him as a majestic looking man with long straight hair and a kind looking gesture on his face. There are a few problems with this idea – the most obvious being his lineage!

While Jesus is 100% God, He is also 100% man, so He has human ancestry . . . sort of, but not in the way we think of “family relations”. You will recall from the first few chapters of Matthew and Luke that Jesus was born of a virgin’s (or Mary’s) womb, so therefore He wouldn’t have human relations the way we think of relations (I hope I’m making sense, if not, please send me an email addressed to animaladventures@aol.com). Jesus’ human “lineage” was Hebrew, so He would probably have looked like a Hebrew. Hebrew people don’t normally have long straight hair!

The one and only way we can know anything about what Jesus looked like is to look in God’s Word – the Bible. But the Bible doesn’t say much about Jesus’ physical appearance. In fact, I encourage you to try find a verse in the New Testament that describes His appearance. So while the New Testament is (at least for the most part) silent about Jesus’ appearance, the Old Testament gives us sneak peeks, and believe me, they don’t look anything like most pictures drawn by artists – famous and non-famous alike!

The sections to look in to find out what Jesus was like and what he really looked like is Isaiah 42:1-4, 52:13 and 53:1-3. Here they are:

Isaiah 42:1-4: “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, my chosen One in whom I delight; I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on earth. In His teaching the islands will put their hope.”

Isaiah 52:13: “See, My Servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.”

Isaiah 53:1-3: “Who has believed out message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem.”

The book of Isaiah was written hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth. Yet, even though it doesn’t say His exact name, we know for a fact that the Isaiah, the human author of this book was describing the Messiah. But how would Isaiah know anything about Jesus if He hadn’t seen it happen? The answer is simple: Isaiah (who was a prophet) was inspired by God while writing this! In Isaiah 53: 1-3, it mentioned how Jesus “ . . . had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him.” Now, when we look at those pictures of Jesus that are often found on church walls, do they reflect what Isaiah says about Jesus’ appearance? Do the pictures show Jesus looking like a majestic man with long flowing hair? NO WAY, HOE-SAY! So where on earth did the artists who painted those Jesus pictures get their ideas from?

So if Jesus’ appearance didn’t draw people to Him, what did? Well, if you read your Bible often, you will recall dozens of verses that say what you look like on the outside doesn’t matter at all! Take a look at Proverbs 31:30 – “Charm is deceptive, and beauty if fleeting . . .”. The rest of the verse talks about how a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised, but the first half of this verse applies to guys like Jesus too.

So should we really care what Jesus looked like on the outside? “Yes” and no.

“Yes” is sort of a pseudo-answer. Why? Well because we as Christians should not be focused on building our “image” of Jesus based on the pictures we see. In other words, we should be worshiping Christ as Himself, not as a picture that some guy who hadn’t seen Jesus made!

“No” because Jesus’ character is what matters. And we as Christians should use Him as our example to live our lives by. You can read about Christ-like behaviors, or “Fruit of the Spirit” as they’re often called, to form in Galatians 5:22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patient), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” These actions that Christ displayed and we as Christians should display them too and “. . . let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven,” Matthew 5:16.

We sure went through a lot today! Please be sure to stop by next week for more cool things to learn about. Bye!

PS: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

How Birds Say, "Be My Valentine!"

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I had no idea that Valentine’s Day was on a Thursday. So I have done everything possible to make sure that this website is as “Valentin-ish” as possible!

During the different times of the year, I like to stay in theme – even with the movies I watch. Last Friday, (February 8^th) I received a Netflix called, “Little Manhattan”. This is a love story between two people named Gabe (Josh Hutchinson) and Rosemary (Charlie Ray). The story takes place in the Big Apple – Manhattan, as the movie’s title suggests. But there’s a catch to this love story – they’re both in fifth grade! Throughout the story, Gabe is beginning to see his friend-since-kindergarten as a girl rather than just another kid and develops romantic feelings for her. How this story ends I will not mention to avoid spoilers. So if you’d like a romantic movie to watch, go and rent “Little Manhattan”. I must warn you though, if you’re a little squeamish (like me), you might want to shield your eyes through some of the beginning of the movie. There’s a brief puking scene, but it lasts less than a minute. Other than that, it’s for the most part a great romantic movie for the whole family! (Still, some parents might want to preview the movie before letting younger children watch it!).

The theatrical poster of "Little Manhattan"

Anyway, “The King on a Cross” play we are working on is coming along great! We are having our third rehearsal tonight! If you are interested in helping out, I’d encourage you to send an email to animaladventures@aol.com. Remember, we don’t only need actors, we also need behind-the-scenes people. Some spots we need filled in are:

Mary Magdalene

Crowd members

Soldiers (at least 2)

Angels (at least 2)

“Planet of the Dinosaurs” (my latest stop-motion project) is about 25% finished. As of last Monday, I just started the fourth episode in the series, entitled “Asian Marvels”. This episode will transport viewers 4,900 years into the past back to, as the title suggests, ancient Asia – the Gobi Desert in Mongolia to be precise. The episode that I most recently completed picture-taking for is episode three, entitled: “Back to the Jurassic”. Today, I completed a demo-clip for you all to see. So please enjoy:

Valentine’s Day is here! Love is in the air for many. I don’t know about you, but some people do some pretty strange things to attract the “object of desire”. However these strange things people do is nothing compared to what amazing lengths animals go to attract a mate, birds in particular. Birds have a number of ways to attract members of the opposite sex. Normally, it is the male who does the attracting and unlike humans, is normally the most colorful and vibrant of the two genders. So this Valentine’s Day, lend an ear as we explore “Love in the World of Birds” (or perhaps I should have said, “Lend a pair of eyes” considering you are reading)!

One of the most popular of all birds can be found in South East Asia where it will do an amazing display of color to attract a female. We all know what this bird is – the peacock! This bird, also known as the peafowl has a thing for style. Did you know that there are three different species of peacocks? They are:

Green Peacock

Congo Peacock

Indian Peacock

While the Green and Congo Peacocks are interesting, they aren’t what we normally think of when you hear peacock, so I’ll just stick with the Indian Peacock today, the most elaborate of the peacock genus. You might already know that it is the male peacocks that have that beautiful fan of feathers on their tails. But did you know that much of the male peacocks coloration does not come from pigment? That’s right! Their feathers are actually iridescent. This means that the beautiful colors are made when light hits the feathers and bounces off of them and into the eyes of the observer. So in the dark, both male and female peacocks (called peahens) are dull colored, but in the light, the male can be seen in shades of blues and greens. Females are normally a mixture of dull greens, browns and grays.

A male peacock in a tree; yes, they CAN fly!

When a male peacock is in the mood for love, he really knows how to strut his stuff – he fans out that beautiful fan (called a “train”) endowed with hundreds of iridescent “eyes”. Then with his train open wide, he will strut and prance around and sometimes will turn around to display his tail. And if the female isn’t paying much attention (which is more often than not), he simply calls to her. Sometimes to woo her into being his mate, a male peacock will display his tail over some food to get her into a form of courtship feeding. The peacock’s tail, while not only attractive, can also be used to direct the sound of a male’s voice toward a female’s ears because of its satalite dish-like shape. Cool, huh? And if that’s not enough, the peacock also uses its tail to warn its mates and young that danger is nearby before flying up to the nearest tree. While both Indian and Green peacocks are believed to be polygamous, it has been suggested by some that the Green peacock is actually monogamous.

A male peacock courting a peahen. Do you think she's impressed?

A mother peahen with her chicks

You can hardly tell it now, but yes, this little guy is a peacock chick!

If peacocks are some of the most beautiful birds, then the Sage Grouse takes the second place prize for the Weirdest Courtship Displays (second only to Birds of Paradise, which I’ll talk about later). The Sage Grouse is the largest grouse in North America and when they are in the mood for love, they let everybody know about it – with sounds! Male and female Sage Grouse will gather in groups, called leks, in open clearings and begin to strut. Like peacocks, they also fan out their tail feathers but they aren’t as long as those of the peacock. Then to attract females who are nearby, the males will begin to inflate two large sacks on their chests. These two sacks produce a sound that sounds like a high-pitched bouncy ball. With every sound, the sacks bounce. While the sound may sound silly to us, female Sage Grouse can’t resist a male with a fine singing voice. Only the most successful males get to mate, and normally there are only two successful males per lek.

A male Sage Grouse, see the two yellow sacks on his chest?

To see a visual display of the Sage Grouse, click on the video below:

Some birds get real noisy to attract mates. Others just get plain showy. When a male Frigatebird wants to attract the love of his life, he pours his heart out – almost literally! These birds live by the ocean in large groups and males of the species don’t look like anything special; in fact, they are almost identical to the females except that females have white chest feathers and light blue-colored beaks, while the beaks and chest feathers of males are black. When an attractive female flies by a male sitting in either a tree or on a cliff, he will inflate a loose patch of skin on the throat. When inflated, it almost looks like a big red heart! (When I was little, I used to think the pouch was caused when the Frigatebird swallowed a strawberry!) After his sweetheart sees a male she likes, she will fly down to him and they start the courtship process. Frigatebirds are monogamous creatures and are great parents. Both parents will faithfully care for their single chick for a full three months until it’s ready to go out on its own. When the next breeding season comes, Frigatebirds choose a new mate. But I don’t think finding a new mate is ever a challenge for these birds – what female Frigatebird can resist a male with a big heart?

A few male Frigatebirds with their pouches inflated

A Frigatebird couple. "What a big pouch you have!" says the female. "The better to woo you with my dear," says the male.

A male Frigatebird with a BIG pouch

Little Huts in the Woods

This image came from here

This image came from here

This image came from here

Who do you think made these huts? Animal lovers who wanted to make a home for some birds? Nope. No human hands touched these huts. In the Bible, it is made clear that love is not an emotion, but rather an action (and the sentimental feeling we from someone we love is the result of real love). You can read an excellent passage about love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. The aptly named Bowerbird seems to follow this love-as-action rule (even though birds don’t feel love like humans do). When the breeding season for bowerbirds comes around, males get really creative. While the male bowerbird doesn’t look like a very special bird, looks aren’t important when they want to attract a mate. Instead, they make a bower of love. Depending on the species, male bowerbirds will look around their forest home (in Australia and New Guinea) for certain materials to make a bower. Today we will focus on two species of bowerbirds: the Satin Bowerbird (pronounced sat-in) and the Vogelkop bowerbird (pronounced FOH-gull-kop). Both species are unique in their own ways. The Vogelkop bowerbird makes one of the most extravagant bowers. While the bower itself looks no different from its neighbors’, each bowerbird adds unique arrangements to their own bowerbird. Some go for a berry-style bower, others for flowers and leaves, and others for pebbles, shiny beetles or deer dung, and some like the trash we humans leave behind.

A Vogelkop Bowerbird observing a bower (this image came from this link)

Satin bowerbirds have a blue tint in their feathers; perhaps this is why they’re blue for the color blue. They will put a variety of objects in and surrounding the bower – as long as their blue! These items can consist of things in nature such as feathers or berries and on the not-so-natural side, plastic caps, paperclips and even car keys! (So if you ever go to Australia, be careful what you put on the ground!) And if that’s not enough, they will even mash up little plant bits and after mixing it with saliva, “paint” the newly made mixture on the walls of the inside of the bower! (Guys, don’t try this at home, human females don’t like a paint made in this way as much as bowerbird females do) Talk about DIY!

A male Satin Bowerbird

A female Satin Bowerbird

But in the end, it’s the female bowerbird that chooses which male she mates with. When a female comes by, a male will sing a little “love song” to his potential mate and if she likes the sound, she will come down and inspect the bower. If she likes the bower, she will mate with the hard-working male and if not, she flies off and continues the search. After mating, the female flies off to make a nest while the male revises his bower to hopefully suit the next female that passes by.

The Satin Bowerbird goes blue for blue! 

Birds-of-Paradise is a group of birds that are perhaps some of the strangest dancers in the bird world. Males and females are vastly different from each other – females are drab-colored and feathered while males have elaborate feathers and feather patterns. There are many species of Birds-of-Paradise and each species has many different dances they use to attract a mate. Take the Parotia, nicknamed the “six-plumed birds of paradise” because they have six quills on their heads. On the males, the ornamental plumage consists of the six head plumes with black oval-shaped tips, a black collar around the neck, decomposed feathers that can be spread out around the bird like a ballerina’s skirt. When they are in the mood for love, they will twirl around and around like a ballerina in an area where the bird has cleared of leaves. It might also hop from one foot or bob its head from side to side. Apparently, this funny dance gets the ladies attention.

The Six-Plumed Bird of Paradise likes to spin around like a ballerina to attract mates (this image came from here)

Birds of all shapes and sizes dance around to attract mates whenever their breeding seasons arrive. Evolutionists will tell you that these birds evolved another type of animal. Their ideas change as so-called new “evidence” is found, but for the moment, they believe that birds evolved from dinosaurs. Now, we have no evidence for feathered dinosaurs, so where on earth did birds get their beautiful courtship displays from? (The dinosaurs-to-bird idea is very extensive, so I’ll save this for another day) Evolutionists have no idea. Even Charles Darwin, the evolutionist of evolutionists said to Asa Gray that “. . . [the] sight of a feather in a peacock’s tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!” Evolutionists can’t tell us where on earth these amazingly designed birds evolved their displays from.

However, the Bible has the answer. In the first chapter of Genesis (Genesis 1:20-22), it says that God created birds on the fifth day of the week God used to create everything. Dinosaurs meanwhile were created on the sixth day of the Creation week along with the other land animals (Genesis 1:24-25). So the reason evolutionists can’t find what animal evolved into birds that would have given them their displays is because there isn’t such an animal. God created these birds just as we find them (not counting the natural selection that occurs within a “Genesis Kind”) only about 6,000 years ago. And what amazing birds God made!

Before I end my post today, I’d like to bring up a clip from a Discovery Channel television series that I have watched called Dinosaur Revolution. While true, dinosaurs didn’t evolve into birds millions of years ago (evolution and the belief in millions of years isn’t true in the first place!), it doesn’t rule out that dinosaurs didn’t have feathers. We just don’t have evidence for feathered dinosaurs! If dinosaurs had feathers, they could have used them to attract mates. So on this Valentine’s Day, lets watch a dramatic depiction of a male Gigantoraptor as he tries to win the heart of a female of the same species (I bet you’ve never seen a dinosaur dancing to Spanish-styled music!). Will she be impressed? Or will she ditch him for another male? Only one way to find out:

Well, that was an interesting video! I hope you liked it and I hope you enjoyed this brilliant post about birds and their attempts to woo the love(s) of their life. I can’t wait till next Thursday, when we’re explore another amazing wonder of our amazing planet! Bye for now!

PS: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

Jurassic Park IV: The Comeback!

Welcome back everyone! Around here lately we’ve had lots of progression with many different things. For starters, as many of you might recall, we went over groundhogs last week so I thought it would be cool if I mention what Punxsutawney Phil’s latest prediction is. Will spring be coming soon, or will we have six more weeks of winter? On the 2^nd of this month he predicted (drumroll please) . . . :

EARLY SPRING!!!

This little guy has a thing for style!

. . . of course, this is all just something fun to do. Because even Punxsutawney Phil can’t predict the weather (he’s only been right 39% of the time), this is something only God can do! To find out if winter is ending sooner or later, we shall have to wait and see what God has in store! Now let’s move onto some updates.

The Easter production, “The King on a Cross” is coming along! Last Thursday we had our very first rehearsal and for now at least, this is going to be the day we do the rehearsals. As the date of the production come closer, we might be doing two days a week. There are still quite a few parts that need to be filled:

• Angels
• Simon Peter
• Roman Soldiers
• Pilate

If you’d like to help with the production, please send an email to animaladventures@aol.com. And remember, if you don’t like acting, that’s ok too because we also need behind-the-scenes people. Lord willing, this will be best play we’ve ever completed (my family and I anyways. I have been in numerous plays before this one, but I had no part in writing or co-directing them like I do on this one). You know, my family has a verse we’ve memorized that we use whenever we do a play, or I’m writing a book, when I’m doing chores (or I should be when I’m doing chores) or whatever. That verse is Colossians 3:23: “In whatever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto Men.” This sums up everything we should do in life pretty well.

This past week, I have been working on the third episode of my latest stop-motion series: Planet of the Dinosaurs. As you might recall, the third episode is entitled, “Back to the Jurassic”. I’d say it’s about 30% finished, meanwhile the episode as a whole is about 19% finished. In my spare time (the time when I’m not working on a book, doing school, chores, playing with Halle and etc.) I have completed a little demo clip for you to watch. This clip is taken from the second episode of my series: “The Tropical Poles”. I think it is quite enjoyable. So please sit back and be transported 4,900 years into the past, back to prehistoric Antarctica, which wasn’t so cold that long ago:

What did you think of my British-sounding accent? Do you think it would fit this documentary? Do you think I should just use my normal-sounding voice like I did in the previous series I made: “Animal Face-Off”? Please take the polls I have provided on the right side of the page or post a comment or send me an email (or do all three) to voice your opinion!

What is your favorite movie series? For some it would be Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings or Star Trek. For me it has always been the Jurassic Park trilogy (of course, that’s just one of my favorite movie series, I have lots of others. . .). But you know what’s really cool? Universal Pictures has recently decided to make a fourth film! A lot of people have seen Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (JPII) and Jurassic Park III, but I think it’s safe to say that most people couldn’t tell you what a fraction of what the story is about. The story of Jurassic Park goes much, much deeper than what most people know about (excluding Jurassic Park fans such as myself, of course). And the story might continue with a fourth movie, but we’ll get to that later. First, I’ll reveal the overall plot of this franchise in a few paragraphs

The plot of Jurassic Park starts in the 1980’s when InGen (a fictional company that works with biogenetics) figured out how to clone dinosaurs using DNA found in mosquitos that had once sucked dinosaur blood and ended up getting stuck in fossilized tree sap, called amber. Using sophisticated techniques, they created dozens of these reptiles and made a kind of prehistoric zoo called Jurassic Park which is located on Isla Nublar.

Isla Nublar, for a guide to this island, visit this link

After a few incidents, the park’s safety was put in question, the CEO of InGen, John Hammond invited Dr. Ian Malcolm, a hilarious mathematician (actually, his area of study is the “chaos theory”), Dr. Alan Grant, a paleontologist and Dr. Ellie Sattler, a paleobotanist (a scientist who studies ancient plants) because the park’s investors wanted opinions of people outside InGen. Hammond also brings his grandchildren, computer-nerd Alexis “Lex” Murphy and dino-enthusiast Tim Murphy along for the weekend. Unfortunately, this is when a Jurassic Park employee, Denis Nedry agrees to smuggle dinosaur embryos out of the park by putting them in a phony canister of Barbasol shaving cream and sell them to a rival company called BioSyn. To do this, he must turn the park’s power off so he can sneak past the security systems, sell the embryos and get back and turn the power back on without anyone notices anything. But this isn’t how the plan works out because Denis becomes food for an inquisitive Dilophosaurus and the canister is lost. Before you know it, the dinosaurs escape and the remaining people must try to survive against T. rex and packs of Velociraptors.

The ferocious Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park has a potent venom that can be shot at its enemies from as far as 20 feet away! (The real one didn't really have venom)

Rexy, the awesome Tyrannosaurus rex has escaped!

In Jurassic Park, occasionally the Triceratops will get sick.

I don’t wish to give away the ending, so I’ll skip that part. What a lot of people think is that after the events of the first movie, the second movie comes next. Normally, this is true, but in 2011, TellTale made a game that bridges the gap between the first and second movie called Jurassic Park: TheGame. This video game takes place during and just after the events of the first movie. The game starts off when Gerry Harding, a veterinarian at Jurassic Park brings his 14-year old daughter, Jessica “Jess” Harding for the weekend. Meanwhile, when Nedry isn’t able to smuggle the embryos, two backups named Miles Chadwick and Nima Cruz try to get it back. They manage to find it, but are attacked by a voracious pack of venomous Dilophosaurus and Nima is wounded by an unknown dinosaur with yellow-glowing eyes. When the power goes out, an unconscious Nima, Jess and Gerry must struggle to survive a T. rex encounter as night drags on. They seem trapped in the park until a scientist at Jurassic Park, Dr. Laura Sorkin brings them back using an electric-powered Jeep. Things go on without a hitch until the survivors of the movie leave in the helicopter and the survivors from the game are trapped on an island full of carnivorous dinosaurs. I could blabber on and on about this game, but I’ll save that for a later article.

Now we’re to the second movie in 1997, four years after the events on Isla Nublar, Ian Malcolm is called by John Hammond to help him save another island, Isla Sorna, where the dinosaurs were actually cloned (Isla Nublar was just a tourist attraction, Isla Sorna was where the real research took place). InGen has been taken away from Hammond and was given to his money-worshiping nephew named Peter Ludlow. InGen has been on the verge of Chapter 11 ever since the incident on Nublar and to save the company, Ludlow has decided to take dinosaurs from Sorna and make a new Jurassic Park in San Diego. Ian, his girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding (Gerry’s other daughter and Jess’ older sister), Nick Van Owen, a nature photographer, Eddie Carr, a mechanic-guy and Ian’s daughter from a failed marriage, Kelly Malcolm venture to Sorna and try to save the dinosaurs from InGen. Unfortunately, both Ian’s group and InGen become trapped on Sorna and must come together to find a way off while avoiding dangerous raptors and a pair of Tyrannosaurus rex. For the sake of spoilers, I’ll skip going into detail.

A picturesque view of some of the dinosaur life on Isla Sorna including T. rex (left), Stegosaurus (right) and Pteranodon (upper right)

We have finally reached the events of the third movie. It is now 2001 and Alan Grant and his assistant Billy are longing for a new dig site, but they lack the funding. Their prayers seem to be answered when a rich couple (Amanda and Paul Kirby) offer to give them money as long as Alan and Billy will act as tour guides on their for their wedding anniversary – an aerial flight over Isla Sorna. However the Kirby’s make the fatal mistake of landing on Sorna, despite Alan’s warnings not to (he remembers all too well what happened in the Isla Nublar Incident) and they become stranded. As if this weren’t bad enough, the Kirby’s then reveal they aren’t as rich as they claimed to be and are actually a divorced couple (so Alan still can’t get the money!). The Kirby’s actually lured Alan to the island to help them search for their lost son, Eric. But worst of all perhaps, is that they are going to be exposed to a whole new cast of dinosaurs!

Spinosaurus, one of the new carnivores of Jurassic Park III

Velociraptor male (right) and female (left) from the third movie

We have finally reached the end of the Jurassic Park story. After JPIII, naturally some JP fans would be excited about the release of JPIV. This movie was at first due to be released in 2005, but for some unknown reasons, this didn’t happen. So the series had a brief pause from about 2005-2008 and then finally Universal Pictures showed interest in making the fourth movie. The reason for this delay was that the movie makers couldn’t think of a good story. Then in 2009 they started going through scripts again, and again, and again. This went on until 2011 when they finally thought they have a good story, different from all the other movies in the series. In 2012, Frank Marshall (one of the people working on the series) said that this film was likely to come out really soon. Keeping us fans on the edge of our seats, the next big thing for Jurassic Park came on January 11, 2013 when finally, after 11 years of waiting, Universal Pictures has declared that the movie’s due date – June 13, 2014. Oh boy! It’s about time!

I haven’t been able to track down anything on the plot of the new film, but just to show how tales spread so fast, some rumor has been going around for a few years that the plot would involve animals that were half-dinosaur/half-human and would be able to carry weapons and shoot stuff. Boy, I was hoping that this wouldn’t be the plot! Because a plot like that isn’t even Jurassic Park, that’s called “Star-assic Park Wars”! Fortunately, Universal  declared this a myth. 

Dino-men were rumored to be in Jurassic Park IV! Fortunately this  was disproved by Universal Pictures!

So what will Jurassic Park behold? What new cast of dinosaurs will be unfurled? Only time will tell. You can be sure that I’ll keep you posted! I hope you enjoyed this unique post; stop by next week for some another really good read and updates on the stuff going on around here. Bye for now!

PS: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

PS 5: Please help us expand EXPLORATION BOOKS PEDIA. It’s F-R-E-E!